What do you stock up on?

sanderson wrote:Hopefully you bought the latest Ball Canning book(s) for safe canning. https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t23564-safe-canning-debbie-s-back-porch

Sanderson, on your advice I went to Debbie's Back Porch.  I think she does not recommend the new Ball canning book anymore, and I saw reviews that consistently said it's changed, since some buy out.  Not sure when that was.  I did look for an older version but they go for an arm and a leg.  (If I went to estate sales I might find one.)

Anyway, Debbie's Back Porch pointed me to a book I bought from the cooperative extension at Uni of GA, "So Easy to Preserve." I have no idea how good it is or if the recipes are good.

I will watch for Ball lids.  (Again, just don't know how many to buy.)

The title sounds familiar. Okay, bottom row, middle book. I believe Univ. of GA is the testing facility for approved recipes. I also look online at NCHFP for recipes.




My book is 2013 so it's time to buy an update. I think I will go with this one: https://www.amazon.com/Ball-Blue-Book-Guide-Preserving/dp/0972753745

I have this one…


2012

Scorpio Rising wrote:I have this one…


2012

I was given this as a gift last Christmas and have earmarked some of the recipes that I would like to try this summer. Have you found any that are really good ones to try Scorpio Rising? I just canned some strawberry jam yesterday and I am excited that they all sealed and set up! I love hearing the sound of the lids popping. So exciting!

All of this good discussion on canning is getting buried and will be lost over time. It should be under either of these 2 threads or the other 95 threads on canning. I hope to get some of my replies into the first one. Or maybe a new thread on safe canning books. Hopefully this weekend.

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t23564-safe-canning-debbie-s-back-porch?highlight=canning

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t18519-steam-canning?highlight=canning

So Easy to Preserve is one of the books I use when teaching canning.  I also show Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving.  Both have some great information!  Definitely safe canning books.  There is also a video series for So Easy.  Some can be found here or at least lead you in the right direction:

Dr Elizabeth Andress - Healthy Canning

The Univ of GA is the home of the National Center for Home Food Preservation.  They do all of the testing for USDA.  Unfortunately Dr. Andress retired a couple of years ago.  She spent ALL of her time teaching & testing.  The school slowly but surely took her assistants away & she ended up being basically a single-person department.  It was very frustrating.  I don't know how much testing was done in her final few years as a result.  (And I don't know what they're doing now.  My main contact who did a lot of work with Dr. A has moved out of state & she loaded me up with teaching supplies before she left.)  You can download the USDA books from the NCFHFP website:

National Center for Home Food Preservation | Publications Home (uga.edu)

Ball was purchased by Newell Rubbermaid in 2015, I believe.  (NR also owns Food Saver, btw.)  I've been hearing complaints for a couple of years now that they no longer completely use tested recipes.  For those who are interested only in safe canning practices, this is a major concern.  I would say use any older Ball books (pre-2016) but avoid the newer ones if this is a concern for you. 

I do not own the Bernardin book.  But in some of the FB canning pages I belong to, some folks have expressed concern about safety.  I can't make any judgements or suggestions on this one.  

Hope this helps.

I finally got all of the important replies on canning over to https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t23564-safe-canning-debbie-s-back-porch.

Further canning information needs to go under the Debbie's Back Porch thread.

Non-canning or non-preservation stocking of supplies can continue on this thread.

Thank you.